FaceApp Launches Digital Blackface Options Because The World Is Filled With Idiots

Considering that in-app filters have long struggled to contend with "digital blackface", these new filters felt to many like a odd escalation of the racial insensitivity that's already plaguing face swapping and transforming apps.

After the backlash, FaceApp's Chief Executive Yaroslav Goncharov refused to apologize, saying that the "ethnicity change filters have been created to be equal in all aspects". You know, for fun.

A social media app is under fire for an update enabled users to put on digital blackface. Bowing to the pressure, FaceApp's parent company, Russia's Wireless Lab, has already pulled the feature, less than 12 hours after issuing the update, which we have to assume is some sort of record. In April, the app was forced to delete a "hot" filter which essentially made users appear more white.

"The ethnicity change filters have been created to be equal in all aspects", Goncharov said.

The popular app uses Snapchat-style face filters to transform users' faces into different looks. In a statement, FaceApp CEO Yaroslav Goncharov confirmed the filters were being removed but still defended them, saying "they don't have any positive or negative connotations associated with them". "They are even represented by the same icon", Goncharov wrote.

Moreover, it's not entirely clear why or how FaceApp chose the four categories it did - categories that include billions of people who can vastly differ in their physical appearance. In addition to these blatantly racial face filters - which change everything from hair color to skin tone to eye color - other FaceApp users noted earlier this year that the "hot" filter consistently lightens people's skin color.

Even stranger, the app separates "Indian" from "Asian" into its own category yet still operates under the assumption that everyone else in Asia - from Pakistan to Japan, from South Asians to East Asians - all look alike.

Trending Now

Olympic Video Gaming May Be Headed to the 2024 Games
Los Angeles announced last week it had agreed to host the later edition in exchange for certain financial guarantees from the IOC. As Estanguet pointed out, the inclusion of eSports could be a huge draw to younger viewers and get them into the Olympic spirit.

Kesha Peforms "Praying" on 'Good Morning America'
However, the " Learn to Let Go " singer did note that this album is what helped her through this dark period in her life. Kesha is opening up about her new album Rainbow - her first in five years - and the pain behind the emotional project.